Advantages

Disadvantages

a fair product

==HID Omnikey 3121 Card Reader==

Having worked for the NHS for a good number of years (13 to be precise) I have seen many changes in our GP surgery that have been a national change and some (like the moving of premises) that have been a local change. One of the major events I would say was the upgrade of the older style computer system to the new and current system.

When I first started working in the NHS the practice I worked at had the old green screen computers and not much was ever really done on them. When in around 2001/2002 the introduction of a far more up to date and modern computer system was introduced it was a shock to a lot of the older members of staff who were used to Lloyd George notes and actually dealing with post and paperwork.

Along with the new computers and the system as a whole came the use of smart cards and the need to be able to tell who had done what on the computer and to allow only certain members of staff to access the information which they needed to. To be able to use the smart cards effectively alongside the computer these card readers were bought in and they have been used ever since although have been upgraded what seems like every year.

The HID Omnikey 3121 is currently sitting on my desk and every other desk in the office and we were each given them with a view to installing them and fitting the USB in to our computers ourselves. This was super easy to do and as soon as the USB had been put into the computer, it recognised new hardware and was able to use it straight away. The card readers can be purchased for around the £10 region on their own but I must say these were purchased as a bulk buy and therefore the cost was reduced somewhat.

The card reader works with our windows vista but also supports windows 7, XP, 2000, 2003, 2008 Mac and OS. The cards that you are able to use wit the reader are 5v, 3v and 1.8v.

Basically I have had no operating problems with using this device and would highly recommend it. The card reader sits on my desk nicely and collects the same amount of dust as everything else. The card slots in the top and sets the green LED light flashing to say that it is reading the card. I have to then input my password on screen and the LED light will change to solid once I have entered my programme securely. The card reader icon stays down in the bottom right hand corner all the time and causes no problems and always runs smoothly.

I know that we are gradually going to be fazing these card readers out as we begin to get the new keyboards which have the built in card reader so that the desks are less cluttered and the need to fill the USB slots with too many wires isn't there. But for now these card readers are doing a fair job although they maybe slightly outdated technology they work well and one can't complain about that.

All in all I feel a top rating of 5 out of 5 stars and a very high recommendation.